Weight loss for a better seat

[jonem004]

Having done a lot of riding over a 60lb weight range I feel very qualified to speak to this.

Yes, a 20 lb gain can make quite a big difference in how your seat and leg connects to your horse. I’ve spoken with trainers who have also noticed that it’s harder to get your leg on as the thigh gets bigger and there’s more flesh between the bone and the saddle. It definitely can also impact your balance and how quickly you can make small changes to your balance because you’re simply shifting more mass.

Now, let me also say that my experience has been that fittness is MUCH more important than weight, at least within a range that is comfortable for the horse to carry. For a time at the beginning of COVID I gained weight but I also got more sedentary than I’d ever been before. I was working 60 hrs a week tied to a laptop and we were all treating the situation like it was temporary… And the lack of muscle when I went back to the barn was crazy! I could definitely feel it riding, but I could also tell when I tried to dump a wheelbarrow or move a bale of hay. I was just so weak!

I got the strength back before the weight came off and that was a huge relief. Getting the weight off also helps, but not as much as the strength. So that is where I would recommend any rider focus their attention first. Build a fence, dig a ditch, move hay. That’s the workout that got me strong again. You want farm muscles, not beach muscles.

[netg]

I agree that it varies by individual.
For me, health and fitness always always a challenge, and weight loss has less impact. I don’t like a close fitting saddle, so I have room to move even when heavier. My horse is too big to be an ideal fit for me and I’m knock kneed, so legs can’t lie flat even if I’m underweight. My center of gravity seems to hold pretty steady at a low location to help balance. Weight made a bigger difference with my older mare who is a more ideal size and shape for me. With her, my thigh fat fluctuations went from super easy to keep legs in the right place to a little struggle.

[Snowdenfarm]

I think it depends on what your BMI is when you gain or lose the weight. If I am at my ideal BMI of 20, 5-10 lbs makes a huge difference. If I am up to a BMI of 22, fitness makes a bigger difference than a few more pounds at that point.

[the_sandiest_shoes]

My BMI is usually 18.5-19.5 and I really don’t notice the small weight changes - but it could be height/ how I carry weight. Fitness (especially tightness/flexibility) I notice intense differences.

[luvmyhackney]

5 lb swing doesn’t make a huge difference for me like my fitness does. I notice around 10-15 lbs way more. I don’t feel as good and I get tired faster doing the same things.

Actually I notice the most difference in my riding if I’ve been stretching and consistently doing my yoga vs my actual weight.

[Sticky_Situation]

It seems like weight and riding is always a controversial subject, so I’ll preface this by saying that there are plenty of larger people who are very good riders, and a larger rider with soft hands and an educated seat is probably easier on the horse than an unskilled thin rider.

But if you consider the variable of weight alone, and assume that there is no difference in height, general fitness, or riding skill … it makes complete sense that the leaner rider would have an easier time staying balanced and following the horse’s movement. For a larger rider, the inertia is greater and requires that much more strength and coordination to overcome, and a greater proportion of their body mass is centered above the horse rather than wrapped around it, so they’re more top heavy.

How much weight is enough to make a noticeable difference, I couldn’t say, but the fact that riding is generally easier when you’re leaner is simple physics.

[stoneymeadow]

I’ll weigh in here
I earned my Bronze as an obese rider. did not have remarkable horses and was a pretty decent, physically fit rider. knowing what I know now, I was well mounted for my weight and skill level.

I earned my Silver as a less obese more physically fit rider well mounted on a schooled horse. learned so much from that wonderful pony. knowing what I know now, my weight impacted him more than I realized even though I had lost 55 lbs from my “Bronze weight”. I did not have enough balance and my weight impacted my ability to develop more finesse and ability to react.

Fast forward and life priorities and work became the focus for 10+ yrs. And the weight came back on. I still showed a couple times to 4th level and then started dabbling in low level eventing. I was still a pretty decent rider and pretty physically fit.

Something triggered as I turned 60 and I knew I was not done. I worked on my mental health to get to some of the emotional eating issues and deal with them. Then between June 2020 and March 2021 I lost 105 lbs. And have kept it off. But as I started my journey that summer off 2020, I looked for a FEI schoolmaster on the backside of their career. My budget was small. Just wanted to ride at a FEI level again, Keeping the story short, I found my unicorn and took a leap of faith buying a 19 yo gelding who had been treated for EPM twice. But he had shown well to GP and I took the risk.

I picked him up having never ridden him as I was only about 45 lbs into my journey. I was afraid they would not sell him to me after meeting me. But my fairytale has the happy ending. I did reach my weight loss goal and I worked very very very hard to learn how to ride again at an upper level. Did not know if I would actually get to GP but I kept working and my unicorn kept teaching. We earned our Gold medal April 2021 as a healthy, very fit person. And we went on to have a fabulous 2021 show season.

Don’t know if showing is in our future as that is entirely up to my unicorn. As long as my now 21 yo unicorn is healthy, sound and happy we will keep going. But I will say this…For me I absolutely COULD. NOT. HAVE. RIDDEN. AT. GP as anything other than at a healthy weight and as a very fit person. Weight and fitness impact you at any level but depending on your goals, both are imperative as you move up the levels. As for me when heavier, I knew the difference in just 10 lbs. Now I stay in a narrow 5 lbs range and know the difference with just a few pounds.